This invention relates to a support for constructing an electrical or electronic circuit, and more particularly relates to a compact modular support and casing used for the construction of an electrical or electronic circuit in a developmental stage.
In constructing an electrical or electronic circuit particularly for experimental or developmental purposes, it is often necessary to make numerous changes of the electrical components in order to obtain the desired circuit. Heretofore, in constructing an electrical or electronic circuit, the electrical components are affixed to a support such as a printed circuit board by soldering their leads and the connection wiring to metal tracings provided on the printed circuit board. When changes in the circuit are required, it is necessary to remove or replace the selected electrical components from the printed circuit board by de-soldering them therefrom and then soldering the new replacement components thereto. Such operation is awkward and difficult and more often frustrating to carry out particularly for a complex circuit having numerous electrical components and wiring interconnecting to various points in the circuit.
The above drawback of using a printed circuit board has been alleviated with the use of a circuit support commonly referred to as a xe2x80x9cbreadboardxe2x80x9d which consists of a rectangular plastic board having a plurality of parallel rows and columns of bus bars provided at its bottom surface. A plurality of through openings are formed in the board such that electrical components may be interconnected by merely inserting their leads through the openings for connecting to selected bus bars. However, the circuit breadboard is not provided with any power supply and bare live connection terminals are normally directly mounted at one of its edge portion for connection to external power supply source or to other circuit testing equipment. Therefore, the circuit constructed on the breadboard per se is not self-contained and self-operative. Moreover, in order to preserve the circuit, the breadboard with the electrical components mounted thereon must be placed within a suitable enclosure. The enclosure must then be modified to accept auxiliary components such as switches, connectors etc., for operating the circuit. The entire procedure is tedious and the completed unit is rather untidy and not well protected such that it may be easily damaged.
Another problem with either printed circuit board or circuit breadboard support is the difficulty of providing supports for auxiliary components such as toggle switches, connection ports, and display etc., for the circuit. There is no provision for mounting these components directly on the board in order that connection to such auxiliary components may be made during the construction of the circuit. Therefore, openings must be made in the side and top panels of the protective enclosure which is commonly a plastic box, for mounting such auxiliary components. These openings are commonly formed by cutting or sawing the side and top panels of the plastic box. Such operation is often difficult and very frustrating to carry out as the panels of the plastic box particularly the side panels would often break in the cutting and sawing operations; and even if the cutting and sawing operations are successful, the openings thus formed are rather unkempt.
Moreover, the operation of the circuit thus constructed must be tested with various complex and expensive testing equipment and electrical supply must be provided by external complex equipment which are normally designed for general testing purposes. Such general purpose testing equipment are expensive and bulky in size and they are usually not affordable for a circuit developer and particularly for a student learning to develop an electrical or electronic circuit.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a compact modular support in which electrical components may be easily and quickly installed or replaced.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a modular support having interchangeable side plates for mounting auxiliary components for easy building of an electrical or electronic circuit.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a cover engageable with the interchangeable side plates to form a secure protective enclosure for the circuit.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a modular support in which various selective compact testing module may be interchangeably mounted therein for testing the operation of the circuit constructed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a modular support having its own alternate power supply.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a modular support suitable for constructing development model of digital and analog circuits.